Monsters University 3D (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Erich Asperschlager just isn't scary.

The Charge

"The two of you did something together that no one has ever done before:
you surprised me."

Opening Statement

It's hard to stay on top in the entertainment world. When you're the best, it
seems like there's no place to go but down. With the release of Toy Story in 1995, Pixar grabbed
audiences and held on tight through a string of instant classics as impressive
as stories as showcases for computer animation. It seemed they could do no
wrong. The first cracks in that image came with the over-merchandised Cars, and the grumbling got louder it
looked like Pixar was more interested in sequels than original stories.
Somewhere between the widely panned Cars
2 and the largely misunderstood Brave, critical perception of the
studio changed from "infallible" to "untenable." It was into
this skeptical world that their latest sequel, Monsters University, came
out.

Monsters, Inc. could be
considered the first dip in Pixar's perfect record. The 2001 film was a hit with
audiences, but it failed to land with some critics. Too bad, because Inc.
is one of my personal Pixar favorites—a wildly inventive film that created
an engaging world and had subversive things to say about energy independence and
the use of fear in politics. It also had wonderful performances by Billy Crystal
and John Goodman, an airtight script, and an ending that never fails to make me
cry.

Despite the pedigree and my personal connection with the original, I didn't
know what to expect from Monsters University. Prequels were problematic
long before George Lucas got his hands on them. We already know Mike and Sulley
are going to end up on the scare floor. Is the story of how they got there worth
telling? Those who missed the movie in theaters can find out for themselves with
the release of the Monster's University "Ultimate Collection"
Blu-ray set.

Facts of the Case

Ever since he was a little monster, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) has wanted
to be a scarer, and to attend Monsters University. He finally gets the chance to
do both, joining the college's prestigious Scare School. On his first day of
class, he meets the naturally talented James "Sulley" Sullivan (John
Goodman), whose lazy approach to scaring rubs the hardworking Mike the wrong
way. When their petty rivalry gets them kicked out of the program by
non-nonsense Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), their only way back in is to win
the annual Scare Games, and the only way to enter is with the one fraternity
that will take them: the misfits of Oozma Kappa.

The Evidence

Monsters University is a surprising film that does right by the world
and characters established in the original. The problem with sequels is that
many of them just repeat the plot of the first movie, and the problem with
prequels is that we already know how the story will end. University
sidesteps both problems by putting the characters in a rich new setting and
playing with audience expectations to make the journey more satisfying than the
destination. The basic story beats are nothing new. Plenty of sequels and
prequels twist established relationships to manufacture drama. Mike and Sulley
were best friends in Monsters,
Inc. so of course they start off as enemies here. What director Dan Scanlon
and his co-writers Daniel Gerson and Robert Baird do right is that they anchor
the trope in the characters. Mike and Sulley were just as different from each
other in the first film as they are here, but we believed them as friends
because they made a great team. This prequel is the story of how they overcame
their differences to work together.

That theme of hidden potential is key to Monsters University, at
heart an underdog story. Of all the new characters introduced into the Monster
world, the best are the outsiders of Oozma Kappa, a fraternity that lives in a
member's mother's house and is resigned to being "OK." The hilarious
Kappa crew includes multi-eyed marshmallow Squishy (Peter Sohn), the bickering
two-headed Terri (Sean Hayes) and Terry (Dave Foley), paternal mature student
Don Carlton (Joel Murray), and new age philosophy major Art (Charlie Day). On
the other side of fraternity row are the popular, preppy Roar Omega Roars, led
by rich jerk Johnny Worthington (Nathan Fillion). They are the Cobra Kai to the
Oozma Kappa's Daniel-san, the Alpha Betas to the Kappa's Nerds. It's a conflict
as old as the '80s, and a great setup for a college comedy.

Monsters, Inc. did some great world-building within the Monstropolis
scare industry. University ups the ante with a huge campus packed with
diverse monsters studying a variety of disciplines, in a setting recognizable to
anyone who went to a four-year school. The college gags are well-observed,
covering orientation, dining hall, hanging out on the quad, and meeting your
first college roommate. For Mike, that roommate is Steve Buscemi's Randall
before he became Sulley's rival—one of the few direct references to the
first film.

Classes and frat hijinks are fun, but the real meat of the story is the
Scare Games—a high stakes tournament that sets up a variety of flashy and
tense events. If MU is Hogwarts for monsters, the Scare Games are its Goblet of
Fire. These games are great fun to watch even if you know which two teams will
end up in the finals. Monsters University plays with that inevitability,
twisting Mike and Sulley's journey in ways that make for a more satisfying
finale.

I reviewed Monsters, Inc. on Blu-ray earlier this year and was
impressed by how well its visuals stand up to modern high-def. Monsters
University makes the first film look like a student project. It's astounding
how far computer animation has come in twelve years, and this 1.78:1 1080p
digital-to-digital presentation isn't just one of the best-looking animated
movies out there, it's one of the best Blu-rays I've ever seen. There's no hint
of artifacting or edge enhancement. Colors are deep and rich, with a saturated
palette and sharp-as-claws detail. Pixar's storytelling reputation may have
taken a hit in recent years, but Monsters University proves they're still
on the bleeding edge of CGI. The four-disc "Ultimate Collector's
Edition" also comes with a separate 3D Blu-ray disc, giving the already
gorgeous image the kind of nuanced depth possible with an all-digital
workflow.

Audio comes in a powerful Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix that immerses the viewer in
bustling classrooms, roaring crowds, and G-rated partying, with clear dialogue
and a boisterous score courtesy of Randy Newman, who moves away from the
expected goofy Newman singalongs in favor of marching band-inspired
instrumentation.

In addition to four ways to watch the film—with 3D and standard
Blu-rays, DVD, and digital copy—the Monster's University
Collector's Edition comes with a long list of extras that spill off the main
discs onto a third Blu-ray:

• "Blue Umbrella" (6:46): This animated short, directed
by Saschka Unseld, ran before the film in theaters and is available here on all
three feature discs. "Umbrella" is the wordless tale of two umbrellas,
one red and one blue, who find and lose each other in the rhythmic chaos of a
city rainstorm. It's not one of Pixar's best shorts, but its unique
photorealistic style goes a long way.

• Audio commentary with director Dan Scanlon, producer Kori Rae,
and story supervisor Kelsey Mann: The trio discuss how the story came together,
point out the intentional use of light and dark, the difficulty of not having
Boo, the iconic college beats, and the problem of keeping things fresh during
the multi-year movie process.

• "Campus Life" (15:14): A day in the life at Pixar
during the film's production, with Dan Scanlon, including breakfast, dailies,
and seeing the animators at work.

• "Story School" (8:38): How story artists worked with
writers to craft a better script and sidestep the predictability of a
prequel.

• "Scare Games" (4:30): A team-building campus-wide
competition at Pixar, inspired by the games in the movie.

• "Monthropology" (5:47): Animators discuss the
difficulty of coming up with and developing animation routines for hundreds of
different monsters.

• "Scare Tactics" (5:16): How animators worked together
to create a variety of monster expressions and scares.

• "Color and Light" (5:16): In the early storyboarding
stage, art director Daisuke Tsutsumi created pastel-style drawings to block out
the film in color and tone—using light and dark to reinforce characters'
emotions.

• "Paths to Pixar: Monsters University Edition" (7:40):
Several staff members share their backstories.

• "Furry Monsters: A Technical Retrospective" (5:02): A
look back on the technical achievement of animating Sulley's fur in the original
movie.

• "Deleted Scenes" (22:04): Four sequences, with intros
by Dan Scanlon, shown as storyboard animatics: "Rivalry" is a nod to a
throwaway line from the original film, showing Mike and Sulley meeting in the
fourth grade; "Recon" answers the unnecessary question of how monsters
learn about their child victims; "Movie Night" is an alternate version
of the Oozma Kappa humiliation from the movie; and "Drama Class" is
made up of several scenes from an excised subplot where Mike and Sulley were in
a theater class together, culminating in a big school play.

• "Promo Picks": A selection of promo films, TV ads,
and theatrical trailers, including fake MU admissions videos and the subtitled
Japanese trailer.

Closing Statement

Monsters University doesn't quite hold up to the near-flawless
original, but there's plenty of room for this follow-up to be a great movie in
its own right. University avoids the problems of many prequels and
sequels, expanding the monster universe beyond the factory floor to a fully
realized college setting, with a cast of hilarious new characters and the
brilliance of the Scare Games. Monsters University may have its
detractors in people who prefer old Pixar to new, or just hate sequels on
principle, but viewers who give the film a chance will be richly rewarded with a
worthy addition to Pixar's filmography and a pristine Blu-ray that stands among
the format's best.